


love has a nasty habit of disappearing overnight

by gonnaliveforever (orphan_account)



Series: we'll be alright though [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-27
Updated: 2015-10-27
Packaged: 2018-04-28 12:17:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5090447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/gonnaliveforever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the one where harry comforts liam on his (pending) breakup</p>
            </blockquote>





	love has a nasty habit of disappearing overnight

“Does anyone know where Liam is?” It’s Paddy that asks the question they’re all thinking, as it nears closer and closer to showtime. They’ve roughly an hour before they have to go on, and it’s not normal of Liam to hide out this close to going on stage.

All three boys look at each other, in hopes that one of them will know where the fourth member is, but they all shrug. Louis speaks up, “Maybe he’s with Sophia?”

Niall rubs a hand along his heck, tilting his head to the side in thought. “Who knows. We could always try to find him, incase he’s sick again.”

Harry and Louis both glance at one another, before nodding at Niall. “Best idea you’ve had in a while, mate,” Harry teases, reaching forward to tussle Niall’s hair. He’s off before Niall can get to him, hearing the elder boy yell out that Lou is going to get him for messing up his hair.

He’d love to see Lou try, he reckons.

It’s surprising that Harry’s the one to find Liam, he thinks, as he walks down a random corridor to see the lad on the ground, hands threaded into his hair as if he’s trying to rip each strand out. He’s got his knees up to his chest, and even from here, Harry can hear him breathing deeply, from where his head is dangling low near his knees.

“Shit,” Harry mumbles, rushing forward to Liam. He nearly trips over his feet in doing so, but he pays no mind to that, dropping down to his knees hard at the sight of the other boy in front of him. Now that he’s close enough, he notices Liam’s tear-stricken face, and that his knuckles are turning white with how tightly he’s gripping his hair.

Harry knows it should be Louis here with him, or Niall, even. He’s the worst out of all four of them at consoling somebody, as it’s normally him being consoled, but he’s going to try.

He carefully reaches up to pry Liam’s hands out of his hair, slowly uncurling his fists out so they’re flat against Liam’s own thighs. The other boy hasn’t even said anything to Harry yet, has barely acknowledged that Harry’s even here, but Harry’s determined.

“What’s wrong?” There’s no point in Harry beating around the bush with Liam, he knows, from the very few times he’s tried helping him or any of the other boys in feeling better. It’s not been often, but, he has tried, you know.

He keeps his eyes fixated on Liam’s face, noting that as he asks him the question, Liam’s hands curl back up into fists and his face twists up almost painfully. It takes Harry placing his hands on top of Liam’s to stop it, and in doing so, that jolts a sob out of Liam.

Fuck.

Harry plops down on the ground, tugging Liam into his lap and wrapping his arms around him, allowing Liam to cling to his shirt and basically cover it in snot and tears. All Harry can hear is, “why am I not ever good enough?” and that’s when Harry understands that this is worse than he first though.

In all of the time Harry has known Liam, the only time he’s ever seen Liam crying is during traumatic moments in his life. When Liam’s granddad passed away, he and the others saw him cry for nearly two minutes, before Zayn pulled him into the back room and talked to him. 

That was back when Zayn was here, though, and they were all on good terms with him. Harry doesn’t even know the last time Liam and Zayn spoke on terms that didn’t consist of them arguing. He supposes it’s been a while, though. 

Harry hushes him, however, and whispers into his hair, “Of course you’re good enough, Li, what are you talking about?" 

Angrily, Liam pushes himself away from Harry and shakes his head as he speaks, voice cracking with the force of his words. "No, you don’t get it, I’m not good enough. She left me, didn’t want to deal with the stress of it anymore." 

And,  _oh_. 

His hands twitch as Liam stares at him, daring him to say otherwise, but Harry tucks his hands into his lap and talks back to Liam calmly, in the only way he knows how to. “What do you mean that she left?” 

With a sigh, Liam seems to have calmed down now, as he runs a shaky hand through his hair. “Like I said Harry,” he starts. “She’s gone. She told me that she’s tired of my bullshit, that she wants to be able to go out with me without the fans stalking us constantly. She’s tired of the hate. She’s just tired, and I don’t blame her. This is literally exactly what happened with Danielle.” 

It makes even more sense, now, as to why Liam snuck off to be by himself. This is the second time this has happened, in the past few years. Liam’s always gotten close to his girlfriends, tried to give them everything he could despite the life he lives, yet they still leave. 

They always leave, and Harry knows that too. It’s why he keeps to himself, mostly, only really hooking up if he’s lonely. 

Harry crawls over to where Liam is now, and he’s not worried about the show, even if he should be. He knows it hasn’t been an hour, but he knows it’s getting dangerously close to the time they need to be near the stage. He ignores that inkling, though, in favor of wrapping Liam up in another hug. This one’s less gentle, though, less of him holding Liam as if he’s fragile and going to break. "She’s stupid, mate, to let someone like you go,” he murmurs, now upset himself that somebody could even bear to let someone like Liam go in such a way, over things like this. 

This is the smallest Harry has seen Liam, he reckons, from the moment he walked down this corridor to now, Liam’s been trying his hardest to appear like he’s a lot tinier than he actually is, as he fits himself into Harry’s arms easier, his breathing not nearly as shaky as it had been when Harry’d first seem him.

Harry turns his head to press a kiss into Liam’s hair, before releasing him, despite his protests, and slowly stands up. He hears a whine come from Liam, but he hushes him and holds out his hand to Liam, pulling him up to his feet once he can.

"Listen to me, Liam,” Harry starts, sliding his hand up Liam’s until he’s gripping on Liam’s wrist, pressing his thumb into Liam’s pressure point to feel his heartbeat. He feels it speed up, but ignores it. “I know you’re sad and not in the best emotional mindset right now, but we’ve a show in,” he pauses, checking the time on his watch and frowning at it, then continues, “nearly fifteen minutes. What you’re going to do, is go out there on stage and act like nothing’s wrong, and then afterwards, crawl into bed with me and sulk all you want. But for now, you’ve a show to put on with the rest of us.”

Harry’s normally not so firm with Liam, but, he knows that’s what he needs right now, in order to do anything other than sulk. He keeps his hold on Liam tight, eyeing Liam as if he dares Liam to try him.

He gets a surprised, wet laugh out of Liam, which shocks him, and Liam pulls him into a hug, shorter this time. ‘Thanks for that, H, I really needed it. I can stay with you tonight, though? S'a promise?“

"It’s a promise, Liam, and you know I’m not one to break those.” Harry widens his eyes comically, as if the breaking of a promise is worse than anything he knows.

Liam shakes his head, letting go of Harry in order to begin walking down the hallway. “C'mon then, mate, we’ve a show to do.”

If Harry bugs Liam more than normal during the show later that night, it’s not noticed by anyone. If Liam slipping into Harry’s room when they get to the hotel is noticed by anyone, well, nothing is said.

If a post-sleep kiss is instigated by Liam and Harry maybe likes it a lot more than he should, then well, nobody has to know about it.

 

**Author's Note:**

> come bother me on tumblr: iffolkswannapopoff
> 
> i changed this into being a series kind of thing bc i was writing a fic that kind of went along with it??? weirdly enough?? but yeaH


End file.
